Ethnicity in the context of cultural appropriation: discourse analysis

• Thesis title in Czech: Etnicita v kontextu kulturní apropriace: diskurzivní analýza
• Thesis title in English: Ethnicity in the context of cultural appropriation: discourse analysis
• Key words: kulturní apropriace|etnicita|diskurzivní analýza|digitální antropologie|sociální sítě
• English key words: cultural appropriation|ethnicity|discourse analysis|digital anthropology|social networks
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2023/2024
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Ethnology and Central European and Balkan Studies (21-UESEBS)
• Supervisor: doc. Mgr. Lenka Jakoubková Budilová, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 13.11.2023
• Date of assignment: 13.11.2023
• Administrator's approval: approved
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 22.11.2023
• Submitted/finalized: no

Guidelines

The aim of this master thesis is to offer an anthropological interpretation of the relationship between ethnicity, culture and cultural appropriation, based on the analysis of contemporary internet discourse. Using discourse analysis method and the approach of digital anthropology, I hope to analyse how the debates on cultural appropriation on internet platforms reflect the users’ understanding of ethnic categorisation in relation to culture, as is shown in their use of language and their line of argumentation while participating in the discourse. Based on the interaction and mutual communication of the actors, I will analyse how the idea of cultural heritage is used in the concept of cultural identities and ethnic boundaries, revealing the practical mechanisms of how cultural and ethnic borders are maintained within the context of the given contemporary social media discourse. Based on this semiotic analysis, I aim to help understand the nuances of the conversation, which has grown overtime to be a mainstream and influential social attitude. The discourse will take place in an anglophonic environment, on internet platforms and social media sites such as Facebook, Tumblr, YouTube, TikTok, Reddit, etc., consisting of posts, comments and videos posted by social media users in recent years, when the discourse has gained popularity. The further specifics of the cultural appropriation discourse content, such as quantity of analysed utterances or userbase characteristics, will be specified during the research process. Although the users themselves are a heterogenic group, they are connected by common internet pathways that introduce them to this discourse. In the context of my work, the internet community will be therefore understood as a network of communicative actors, discursive practices, and shared beliefs. The convictions, ideas and opinions shared within this network of actors will be put in comparison to dominant academic theoretical concepts. The concept of cultural appropriation will be described using the works mainly of James O. Young and E. H. Matthes. For the theory of ethnicity, I will explore the ideas reaching from constructivism to primordialism from many different authors, such as Frederik Barth, Anthony D. Smith and T. H Eriksen. Concepts regarding the cultural aspects of ethnic boundaries will be discussed, such as cultural heritage, cultural essentialism, and cultural identity.

References

Ashley, Kathleen a Véronique Plesch. The Cultural Processes of “Appropriation“. Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies. 2002, 32(1), 1-15. Dostupné z:http://read.dukeupress.edu/jmems/article-pdf/32/1/1/435478/ddjmems_32_1-01.pdf
Barth, F. Ethnic groups and boundaries: the social organization of culture difference. Prospect Heights, IL: Waveland Press, 1969
Blommaert, Jan. Discourse: a critical introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0 521 53531.
Gee, James Paul. An Introduction to Discourse Analysis Theory and Method. London: Routledge, 1999. ISBN 0 415 21185 9.
Grillo, R. D. (2003). Cultural Essentialism and Cultural Anxiety. Anthropological Theory, 3(2), 157-173.https://doi.org/10.1177/1463499603003002002
Homoláč, Jiří. Diskurz o migraci Romů na příkladu internetových diskusí. Sociologický časopis. 2006, 42(2), 329-351. Dostupné z:https://www.jstor.org/stable/41132296
Hutchinson, John a Smith, Anthony D. Ethnicity. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. ISBN 0-19-289274-6
Jakoubek, Marek ed. Teorie etnicity: čítanka textů. Praha: Slon, 2016. ISBN 978-80-7419-185-5.
Littler, Jo a Naidoo, Roshi. The politics of heritage: the legacies of 'race'. London: Routledge, 2005. ISBN 1-134-35458-4. Dostupné z:https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203339978
Matthes, E. H. Cultural Appropriation Without Cultural Essentialism? Social Theory and Practice. 2016, 42(2), 343-366. DOI: 10.5840/soctheorpract201642219.
Silverman, Carol. Gypsy music, hybridity and appropriation: Balkan dilemmas of postmodernity. Ethnologia Balkanica. 2011, 15, 15-32.
Young, James O. Cultural appropriation and the arts. Oxford: Blackwell publishing, 2008.